Could This Be Love Read online

  ***

  “You can run, Raven Thomas, but you’ll never be able to hide from me for long,” Marcus Allen declared to the four winds as he stood on the balcony of his four thousand square foot condo.

  “There you are. I’ve searched just about every room for you.”

  Inwardly groaning at the thought of having another conversation with his father’s trophy wife, Marcus turned around to face off with mommy dearest. “How many copies of my house key did you make?”

  “As many as I need,” Liza Allen said while twirling her key ring in her hand. “Everything you do is important to this family and your father wants me to ensure that you marry well. So, we aren’t going to leave you alone until you make up your mind to do the right thing.”

  “And what would be the right thing by your standards?” Marcus was more than fed up with this conversation. His high society step-mother thought every woman he’d ever come in contact with was beneath him. She, alone, knew who would be the perfect wife for him, at least that’s what the grand Liza Allen thought. He brushed past her shaking his head.

  “Allowing yourself to be photographed with that drug addicted Hartman girl sure isn’t the right thing or the right image we need to project to the public.”

  He swung around. “Britney is a friend. And you will not disparage her in my presence. You have no idea the things she has gone through.”

  “We all have troubles, Marcus. But the strong don’t turn to drugs as a cure for what ails them.”

  “You’re just all heart, mommy-dearest,” he said, in reference to the movie that depicted an outwardly dotting mother who secretly beat her adopted child with hangers. “And anyway, I would have thought you’d love that I was photographed with Britney. She has the right pedigree, after all... her mom is a judge.”

  “Britney would never survive the campaign trail. And I’ve told you countless times not to call me mommy-dearest.”

  He was tiring of this conversation. Sighing deeply, Marcus asked, “What do you want, Liza?”

  “Lower your voice,” she half whispered as she pointed downward. “My sorority sister and her daughter Denise Johnson are in town this weekend. I brought them over here to meet you. I thought you could show Denise around town tonight.”

  Marcus could feel a headache coming on. The kind of headache that shot off rockets inside his head, blinding him and rendering him useless for several hours. He’d been having these headaches ever since he was twelve and his father brought Cruella de Vil home to be his new mommy.

  “Not another headache.” Liza rolled her eyes as she opened her purse and pulled out a pill bottle. She handed Marcus two pills and then opened the small refrigerator in his home office to get a bottle of water.

  Marcus had one hand on his desk and the other massaging his temples. This was the one thing that he had no control over. When these headaches came, he could do nothing but ride them out and endure the pain. He took the pain pills and the water bottle offered by his step-mother, then sat down and quickly swallowed them.

  “JFK had his back problems to contend with and I guess your staff at the White House will just have to work around these headaches of yours.”

  If his head didn’t hurt so bad, Marcus would have laughed as if he were being entertained by a clown. “I hardly think it’s time for you to be picking out curtains for your room in the White House. I have a long way to go before I’m ready to run for that office.” Yes, Marcus was ambitious and yes, he and his father had planned his presidency since his was a kid. And even though Marcus lusted after that office as any political figure would, he was in no rush for the job.

  It had become the new trend for men to aspire to the office of President of the United States of America while in their forties. But Marcus wasn’t interested in greying before his time. He could wait until his late fifties, early sixties for that job.

  “It’s coming faster than you think. Governor Lewis will be stepping down from his office this week. He suddenly recognizes his need to spend more time with his family... that is, if they’ll have him after all the catting around he’s been doing.”

  Even with his head pounding, Marcus couldn’t take this news sitting down. Pounding on his desk as he stood and declared, “You and my father made working with Governor Lewis a nightmare. I was never able to form any kind of working relationship with the man because he thought I was looking to take his place. And now you’ve done it.” Glaring at her, he said, “I should just quit as soon as the governor resigns. Then all your meddling will have been for nothing.”

  Liza laughed in Marcus’ face. “You won’t quit. You want this just as bad as the Senator and I want it for you. And don’t blame me for what’s happened to Governor Lewis. Because if you had simply married like your father and I asked three years ago, you would have run for governor and with your father’s endorsement, you would already be in this office and we wouldn’t have had to put you in it through the backdoor. So, blame yourself for this one.”

  “Leave me alone; just go away.” Marcus flopped back into his seat wondering why his father married a woman who was so different from his sainted mother. His mother and Liza had been friends when he was a child. They attended church together and all sorts of social events. The only difference had been that Marcus’ mother was kind hearted and a God fearing woman. She had loved God and her family.

  Shavona Allen had doted on him and his father. She’d taught him that doing the right thing didn’t always come naturally, but if he would turn to God in prayer, God would help him find a way to do what was right. He’d forgotten a lot of things about his mother since her untimely death when he was only eleven. But he’d never forget those words. He hadn’t always succeeded in doing what was right, but he’d tried his best.

  “I can’t leave you alone. Not when the most recent picture of you out on the town was with a drug addict.”

  “Okay,” Marcus said calmly. “If I take this Denise... whoever out to lunch, and allow you to call up your sleazy photographers for a so-called surprise photo of me and my new lady love out on the town, then will you leave me alone?”

  “You got it.” She lifted her hand as if testifying before a jury. “I’ll leave you alone.”

  As she said those words, Marcus remembered that he already had plans for this weekend. He was going to be in hot pursuit of Raven Thomas. And he was going to get answers to every question he had. Before his step-mother ran gleefully out of his home office he said, “I need an entire week. I don’t want to hear from you. I don’t want any of your goons spying on me... I want to be completely left alone. Got it?”

  “Will you come downstairs now, Marcus, or do I need to bring the young lady up here to see you?”

  “I’m not moving until we have an agreement.”

  Folding her arms around her chest, Liza said, “I don’t like it, but if you’ll go on a date with Denise and really give her a chance, I’ll do it.”

  “Thank you. I doubt if I’ll enjoy a date with a daughter of one of your stuck-up friends, but I’m going to enjoy being left alone.”

  “Marcus you need to understand that you are our golden boy. This family is counting on you. We have too much riding on your success to allow you to mess it up in any way.”

  Sometimes Marcus felt less like the golden boy and more like a trained monkey. But not this week, because after today, he was going where he wanted, doing what he wanted to do and finding out all he needed to know about Raven’s pregnancy, whether anyone liked it or not.

  Chapter 3

  “Why are you still here, Raven? I know you have tons of work waiting for you back in D.C. Sitting at my bedside isn’t going to win you any new clients,” Ronny told his sister. After only four days in the hospital, they had thrown him out. But Ronny wasn’t complaining. He was recuperating at his parents’ home. Nia, Carmella and Raven were taking care of him and seeing that his every need was met.

  “I can’t leave until I know that you are all right. I would feel awfu
l if something happened to you and I wasn’t here.”

  “Where is your faith, little sis? God’s got me. And so does Mama-Carmella and Nia. I will be okay.” He then gave her a look that said he knew what she was up to. “Does this extended stay have anything to do with that Senator, the one who kept bothering you and couldn’t seem to take no for an answer while we were at lunch a few weeks ago?”

  “I wondered how long it would take you to ask me about Senator Allen.”

  Nia peeked into his room. “Hey, just checking to see if you’re ready to eat.”

  Ronny’s eyes brightened as he turned toward his lady love. “Not now, baby.”

  Mama-Carmella yelled from the kitchen, “Ask him if he needs a pain pill.”

  “Are you in pain, honey?” Nia stepped into the room and adjusted Ronny’s pillow and then pulled the covers up on him.

  “I can wait for about an hour on both.”

  “You sure, ‘cause I can get you something if you need it,” Nia told him.

  Ronny pulled Nia’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “Don’t worry about me. You and Mama-Carmella have enough work to do. I’m good just sitting here with Raven for now.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll get out of the way.” Nia walked to the bedroom door. Before leaving she told him, “But don’t think you’ve gotten rid of me so easily, Mister. I will be back in here with food and your pain pills in one hour on the dot.”

  Raven burst out laughing as Nia closed the door. “You need me here to get the pillow off your head because Nia and Mama-Carmella are straight smothering you.”

  “What I need is for you to tell me what you’ve gotten yourself into. I don’t like the way that senator was pushing up on you. Not to mention that he’s at least Daddy’s age and married.”

  Lifting a hand, Raven cut Ronny off. “You’re right. I have gotten myself into a situation, but it’s not what you think.”

  “Well, I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

  She patted him on the shoulder as she stood up. “I know. And I thank you for being a wonderful big brother. But I need to think a few things through before I can confide in anyone.”

  “My sister, always the professional, even when she is her own client.”

  Yawning, Raven told him, “I’ll sit with you again this evening. I need a nap.”

  In her room, Raven turned on CNN as she plopped down on her bed. She doubted that she would catch much of the news because her eyelids were getting heavy and all she wanted to do was put her head on that pillow and drift off to sleep. She’d been taking a lot of power naps lately. After taking the pregnancy test, it all made sense to her. The baby was zapping her energy.

  Just what she needed, Raven thought, a baby zapping all her strength while she was hiding from the father and the drama of being connected with his family. With her arms outstretched while yawning, Raven caught a glimpse of the television. Governor Lewis was having a press conference. She grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

  Governor Lewis was saying... “My family has endured many hardships because of my choice to become governor of this great state of Virginia. They have given up so much for me that I think it’s only right that I now give up the governorship for them. With our children getting older and the fact that my wife and I aren’t getting any younger,” he smiled at his own joke, “I have decided to step down. There is a year left to my term and I don’t want this state to worry about anything. I am leaving you in good hands. Because our current lieutenant governor, Marcus Allen will be taking over and making sure that this state meets every objective we laid out during the campaign.”

  The anchor then went to a split screen showing Marcus Allen out to dinner with a woman who was quite beautiful but looked as if the world owed her the sun, moon and all its stars.

  The anchor said, “As if he hasn’t got a care in the world, the new governor was spotted in Richmond with his lady love. Ms. Denise Johnson is a socialite, who handles the Give Hope foundation for her family. From the reports we’re getting in, a wedding is on the horizon.”

  “Oh my God, it’s happening,” Raven said as she put her hand on her belly. “And we’re as good as dead.”

  ***

  Raven walked around the house with fear in her heart over the newscast she had witnessed the day before. Senator Allen had won re-election on a gay rights platform. According to the senator, the members of the gay community were still considered second class citizens and he wasn’t going to be satisfied until they were accepted for who they were in every walk of life.

  Raven remembered telling Senator Allen that he’d have to exile God and ban the Bible for that campaign promise to be fulfilled. He’d told her that all he needed was to get his son elected President of the United States and then he would unfold his plan. He’d also told her that once his plan was put in place it would be the Christians who’d have to hide who they were, “Let them see how it feels to live in the closet,” he’d said with a sinister laugh.

  After that conversation, she had stopped working with Senator Allen, but she had continued seeing Marcus. Why she hadn’t run from the Allen family as if their house were on fire she didn’t know. But if she could have gone back and prayed about any decision in her life it would have been the decision to get involved with the Allens.

  “You look like a happy camper this morning,” Carmella said as Raven drug herself into the kitchen.

  “Just got a lot on my mind, is all.”

  “You want to talk?”

  Raven shook her head. “I don’t want to make you late for church.”

  Carmella handed Raven a banana. “Come with me and then I’ll take you to lunch after church so we can talk.”

  Raven peeled the banana and took a bite. She was about ready to fix her mouth to make her excuses, but then the banana did the backstroke in her stomach and made its way back up. Raven clamped her hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom. Hugging the toilet, she spilled her guts into it and then dry heaved until her stomach calmed down.

  Carmella rubbed her back. “Are you okay?” she asked as Raven let go of the toilet and leaned against the wall.

  “How old was that banana?” Raven asked, trying to act as if she were just as surprised as Carmella by her violent reaction to a simple banana.

  “I just picked those up at the grocery yesterday. I’m so sorry, honey. I never would have given you that banana if I thought it wasn’t any good.”

  Not wanting Carmella to feel guilty, Raven said, “It probably wasn’t the banana. My stomach has been sour all night long. I guess it just erupted this morning.”

  Carmella held out her hand for Raven. “Go lay back down. I’ll bring you the CD from this morning’s service.”

  The look of compassion on Carmella’s face caused Raven to remember what it was like when she lived in this house and the family went off to church together. She grabbed hold of Carmella’s hand, stood up and told her, “I don’t want the CD. I’m coming to church with you this morning. Just give me a half hour and I’ll be ready.”

  ***

  Raven kept her word and attended church with Carmella that morning. And she was fascinated when the minister started preaching about Phinehas, a story she had never even noticed in the scriptures.

  “Turn in your Bibles to Numbers 25. We’ll begin reading at verse 3...

  “Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

  “And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron th
e priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel...

  “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned My wrath away from the children of Israel.”

  After reading the scriptures the minister said, “In case you weren’t able to follow the reading of the Word, let me break it down for you. The nation of Israel had sinned by worshiping an idol named Baal-Peor. One sin led to another and as I read in the text, the Israelites became so bold in their sin that one of them brought a Midianitish woman, in today’s language, a prostitute, to another Israelite so he could lay with her. He did this in front of Moses and anyone else who was looking.

  “The people recognized sin when they saw it, knew that this thing displeased God, but all they did was weep about it. But Phinehas had had enough. By this time, the sins they were committing had brought a plague on the nation... have you heard of a few things like AIDS, herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea... these are all sexually transmitted diseases (plagues) that come from us deciding that we can do whatever we want, live any way we want and no one can tell us any different.”

  As the preacher continued ministering about sexual immorality in such a bold fashion that Raven hadn’t heard in a long time, her hand swept across her belly. She felt guilty of the sin this man spoke of and could have very well contracted one of the diseases he’d just outlined, instead of the baby that was now growing in her body. “God forgive me,” she whispered to the God she had tried to put out of her mind the last few years that she’d been working in D.C. But God had never let go of her, that’s why she still had the ability to feel such guilt over sleeping with a man who wasn’t her husband.